


What Might Have Happened

by Twice_before_Friday



Series: October? No, I think you mean Whumptober [7]
Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Carrying, Explosions, Gen, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:47:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26875441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twice_before_Friday/pseuds/Twice_before_Friday
Summary: Prompt No 7. I’VE GOT YOUSupport |Carrying| Enemy to CaretakerHe shouldn't have even been there.Tally had an ultrasound scheduled, so JT booked the day off to be with her, to be with the baby. But when a special bulletin came on the radio saying that a bomb had gone off in the subway, their eyes found one another across the kitchen table and JT didn't even have to say a word."Go," Tally said, eyebrows creased with concern. "Just be careful, hon."
Relationships: Malcolm Bright & JT Tarmel
Series: October? No, I think you mean Whumptober [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947595
Comments: 20
Kudos: 78
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	What Might Have Happened

He shouldn't have even been there.

Tally had an ultrasound scheduled, so JT booked the day off to be with her, to be with the baby. But when a special bulletin came on the radio saying that a bomb had gone off in the subway, their eyes found one another across the kitchen table and JT didn't even have to say a word.

"Go," Tally said, eyebrows creased with concern. "Just be careful, hon."

JT pushed to his feet and leaned down to give her the gentlest of kisses, whispering, "I love you, Tally Tarmel," before he gathered his things and was out the door.

Gil looked relieved to see him when he got to the precinct. The building was a mess of activity, people coming and going, officers from other precincts checking in to help with search and rescue, to help comb video footage, to help search for secondary devices.

JT's time in Afghanistan made him as close to an expert as they were likely to get outside of the bomb squad, who were prepped and waiting and ready to disarm any additional explosives, should they be discovered.

Gathering everyone's attention, Gil broke the precinct up into pairs and sent them all to different stops along the subway line with instructions to look for abandoned backpacks or packages, to check beneath benches and in garbages, to keep an eye out for anyone acting suspiciously. With well over four hundred subways stations in New York City, checking them all was going to be a massive undertaking, but every officer understood the necessity and was ready to get started.

JT was paired with Malcolm, and, though he'd never admit it, especially to the quirky profiler himself, he was pleased about the arrangement. The kid might be strange, but JT couldn't deny that he had one of the keenest minds he'd ever encountered. He was also freakishly observant, which was definitely going to come in handy for their current task.

And so JT and Malcolm ended up at their assigned stop at 81st Street, by Central Park and the Museum of Natural History. Gil had declared it one of the more high value targets and sent his best guys to clear that particular station. Following the earlier explosion, the subway system had been temporarily closed, allowing them unhindered access to the station (once they made it through the ensuing gridlock created on the city streets).

If JT was honest with himself, he found the empty station to be pretty damn off-putting. It would normally be packed, especially with the number of tourists that would typically be flooding the station on their way to or from Central Park or the museum. Seeing the stop abandoned was eerie and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Hey man, you see anything weird?" JT called out to Malcolm from across the platform as he bent down to look under a bench.

"Nothing yet," Malcolm replied as he opened up a garbage can to peer inside. "Though if the bomber was looking for mass casualties, I assume he would have detonated any further devices at the same time as the first. With the subway temporarily shut down, setting off an additional—"

Malcolm's words cut off abruptly and JT’s head swung to him immediately, seeing the kid frozen in front of the trashcan with a look of fear on his face that JT recognized from Afghanistan, whenever a soldier stepped down and heard the telltale click of a landmine beneath their boot.

JT jogged over but slowed his pace as he approached, not wanting to startle Malcolm or jostle whatever he'd just found. When he bent over the garbage can where Malcolm had just removed the bag, he saw what was clearly a bomb staring back at him.

"Bro, we gotta move, now," JT said quietly. They wouldn't risk calling it in from here, in case the radio waves triggered the damn thing, but once they got to street level they could call for the bomb squad to come dispose of the device.

Malcolm nodded slowly, but just as they turned to leave, a red light flashed to life on the device. 

"Run!" JT shouted, grabbing hold of Malcolm's sleeve and yanking him along as he ran down the platform, heading towards the tunnel. The blast, JT knew, would have more space to spread in the tunnel than the stairwell, where it would crush them instantaneously. Just as they were jumping down from the platform though, the bomb went off and JT's world went black.

~~~

He shouldn't have even been there. 

Oddly, it's his first thought as he comes to, as memories of a thunderous roar and the heat of the explosion fill his mind. He should be home with Tally, getting ready to find out if they're having a son or daughter.

Instead, he's on the tracks of the subway, his entire body aching and feeling like he was just hit by a goddamn train. He takes a moment to assess himself for injuries, shocked to find that he doesn't seem to be bleeding to death or missing any limbs.

He hurts, a lot, and his ears are ringing something fierce, but he doesn't think anything is life threatening.

"Bright!" He calls out and then coughs and sputters around the fine mist of ash and concrete in the air. He's careful as he pulls himself up, cautious of any unknown injuries, extra careful to avoid the charged lines of the track.

He looks behind him, at what used to be the subway station and is now a pile of rubble, with hanging girders and exposed wiring hanging from the ceiling. It looks like the whole thing could collapse any minute.

"Bright!" he calls again and turns his attention to the debris that's covering the tracks. Chunks of concrete and twisted metal are littered everywhere and JT spares a moment to offer a prayer of thanks that he hadn't been crushed by one of the larger pieces.

He picks his way through the site, searching for any sign of his partner, until he catches sight of a hand on the track and his breath leaves him in a woosh.

"Malcolm!" JT runs over and drops to his knees, tossing aside the wreckage that's pinning the kid down until he's clear. 

He's out cold. But still breathing.

JT huffs out a relieved breath and does a cursory check for injuries, thankful to find Bright in one piece. He's got a nasty laceration on his head from his left temple to the middle of his eyebrow, and JT suspects a broken wrist, but he doesn't seem to be bleeding badly elsewhere (though JT knows he can't rule out internal injuries, for either of them).

He knows help will be coming soon, and he doesn't really want to move Malcolm, but what's left of the ceiling is coming down in chunks and he can't risk waiting for rescue.

So he scoops Malcolm up as gently as he can, feeling his stomach drop at how the kid feels so limp and lifeless in his arms, and turns to the tunnel. The stairways are mostly collapsed and entirely unsafe, so he decides to hike to the next station instead, ignoring the expanding aches throughout his body as he moves, knowing that Bright needs medical attention, now.

And so he pushes on, walking down the dark subway tunnel with a gradually increasing limp, with the dead weight of Malcolm Bright in his arms. In his mind, scenarios of what might have happened if he hadn't been there to drag Malcolm away from that garbage can play on loop, leaving him vaguely queasy and entirely ill at ease.

He shouldn't have even been there. 

But JT sure is glad he was.


End file.
